SYSTEM AND METHOD OF EVALUATING PRINT SHOP CONSOLIDATION OPTIONS IN AN ENTERPRISE
A print shop consolidation system including a print shop consolidation management system with an application is provided. The application is used to (1) evaluate, with a set of information, an operational capacity of a first print shop to process both a first group of print jobs and a second group of print jobs, (2) evaluate, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the second print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs, and (3) use the evaluations of )1) and (2) to consolidate processing of the first and second groups of print jobs at one of first and second print shops.
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This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/185,202, filed by Rai et al. on Jul. 19, 2005.
TECHNICAL FIELDEmbodiments relate to production printing and, more particularly, to systems and methods of evaluating print shop consolidation options.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARYAn enterprise of geographically distributed print shops is a frequent occurrence in the production printing industry. Typically, resources in print shops are organized so that when a print job arrives from a customer at a particular print shop, the print job can be processed by performing one or more production functions. Maintaining print shops at multiple locations often necessitates providing the same labor and facilities at each individual site which, in turn, can lead to inefficient distribution of equipment and labor among the print shops.
Consolidating multiple print shop sites into fewer sites can save labor and facility costs. However, known methods of print shop consolidation are based on random or improvised approaches which cannot reliably and accurately provide the most appropriate print shop consolidation options and which, therefore, result in inefficient consolidation of prints shops.
There is a need to provide a methodology of evaluating options for consolidating multiple print shop sites into fewer consolidated sites
The embodiments disclosed herein therefore address the shortcomings of known techniques of evaluating print shop consolidation options by providing a system and method enabling consolidating processing of print job groups at one or more print shops.
In accordance with one aspect of the disclosed embodiments, there is provided a print shop consolidation system for consolidating processing of a first group of print jobs and a second group of prints jobs at one of a first print shop and a second print shop. As contemplated, the first group of print jobs would, without consolidation, be printed at the first print shop, and the second group of print jobs would, without consolidation, be printed at the second print shop. The print shop consolidation system includes: (A) memory for storing a set of information relating to both a print job processing capability of the first print shop and a print job processing capability of the second print shop; (B) a print shop consolidation management system, the print shop consolidation management system including an application for (1) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the first print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs, (2) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the second print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs, and (3) consolidating processing of the first and second groups of print jobs at one of first and second print shops, with said evaluations of (B)(1) and (B)(2) so that either (a) processing of the first and second print jobs occurs solely at the first print shop, or (b) processing of the first and second print job occurs solely at the second print shop.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosed embodiments, there is provided a print shop consolidation system for consolidating processing of a first group of print jobs, a second group of prints jobs and a third group of print jobs at one or two of a first print shop, a second print shop and a third print shop, The print shop consolidation system includes: (A) a memory for storing a set of information relating to respective print job processing capabilities of the first print shop, the second print shop and the third print shop; and; and (B) a print shop consolidation management system, said print shop consolidation management system including an application for, (1) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the first print shop to process first, second, and third groups of print jobs, (2) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the second print shop to process the first, second, and third groups of print jobs, (3) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the third print shop to process the first, second, and third groups of print jobs, and (4) with said evaluations of (B)(1), (B)(2), and (B)(3), (a) consolidating processing of two of the first, second, and third print jobs at a first one of the first, second and third print shops, and (b) processing a third of the first, second, and third print jobs at a second one of the first, second, and third print shops.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the disclosed embodiments there is provided a method for consolidating processing of a first group of print jobs and a second group of prints jobs at one of a first print shop and a second print shop, As contemplated, the first group of print jobs would, without consolidation, be printed at the first print shop, and the second group of print jobs would, without consolidation, be printed at the second print shop. The method includes: (A) storing, in memory, a set of information relating to both a print job processing capability of the first print shop and a print job processing capability of the second print shop; (B) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the first print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs; (C) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the second print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs; and (D) consolidating processing of the first and second groups of print jobs at one of first and second print shops, with said evaluations of (B) and (C) so that either (1) processing of the first and second print jobs occurs solely at the first print shop, or (2) processing of the first and second print job occurs solely at the second print shop.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosed embodiments, there is provided a method for consolidating processing of a first group of print jobs, a second group of prints jobs and a third group of print jobs at one or two of a first print shop, a second print shop and a third print shop. The method includes: (A) storing a set of information relating to respective print job processing capabilities of the first print shop, the second print shop and the third print shop; (B) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the first print shop to process first, second, and third groups of print jobs; (C) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the second print shop to process first, second, and third groups of print jobs; (D) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the third print shop to process first, second, and third groups of print jobs; and (E) with said evaluations of (B), (C), and (D), performing one of the following: (1) consolidating processing of the first, second, and third groups of print jobs at just one of the first, second, and third print shops, or (2) consolidating processing of two of the first, second, and third print jobs at a first one of the first, second and third print shops, and a third of the first, second, and third print jobs at a second one of the first, second, and third print shops.
The accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views and which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, further illustrate the embodiment, together with the background, brief summary, and detailed description, serve to explain the principles of the illustrative embodiment.
The illustrative embodiment provides an approach to evaluating options of consolidating print shops in an enterprise so that the most appropriate print shop consolidation options can be selected to provide equivalent or improved performance.
For the purposes of discussion hereinafter, a “print shop” refers to a grouping of printing resources. The print shop may be a freestanding entity such as a commercial printer or may be part of a corporation or other entity. A “print job” refers to a logical unit of work that is to be completed for a customer. For example, a request to make 10 copies of a book is a print job. Similarly, a request to make 100 copies of a single document is a print job. A production function can be any operation or processing step involved in the processing of the print job. For example, a production function can be black & white printing, color printing, scanning, or packaging.
Referring to
Those skilled in the art would understand that the illustration of
In this embodiment, the operating capacity is represented by the takt-rate TRi for each working day for each production function. In order to appreciate how the takt-rate is calculated, is useful to consider the following parameters. If there are n jobs Ji and each job has an arrival time of t_arri and a due date of t_duei. Each job also has a production quantity qi associated with each processing step or production function where the processing step belongs to a set of workstations W with element we with a processing rate of ri. (A value of 0 for qi for some i implies that there is no processing associated with the workstation). The takt-rate TRi(t) (units required to be produced per unit time) on each workstation at any time t is therefore:
where
qi(t)=qi if t_arri<t<t_duei
and
qi(t)=0 otherwise
As an example, the total takt-rate for each working day for a particular production function, in this case, black and white printing, estimated by the management system 110 using the job data of
If consolidation of print shops from multiple locations to fewer locations is to take place, it is necessary to take into account the scenario in which jobs may originate at one particular print shop 101, 102, 103 and then may be sent to a different print shop 101, 102, 103 for processing. Sending the jobs to another shop delays production. Consequently, the operating capacity associated with each production function at each shop increases. The initial calculated operating capacity therefore has to be modified to take into account the scenarios in which the print jobs originate at each print shop and can be transported to each other print shop for subsequent processing of the print job at each other shop.
To this end, the mailing or transportation times for sending jobs originating from each shop to each other shop for processing are received or estimated by the management system 110 (Step 203 of
The maximum initial and modified takt-rates for each production function during a predetermined time interval are then calculated by the system (step 205 of
Using these analyses, configurations of consolidating a number of print shops into a few numbers of shops can be determined and the estimated maximum takt-rate for each production function for each configuration can be mapped out for each consolidation configuration (step 206 of
Thereafter, the system 110 determines the minimum operating capacity requirement for each consolidation configuration to evaluate the options of consolidating a number of print shops 101, 102, 103 into fewer consolidated shops (step 207 of
In order to evaluate the consolidation options when the shop consolidation occurs at 2 shops, options of consolidation at 101 (S1), 102 (S2) or 102 (S2), 103 (S3) or 101 (S1), 103 (S3) are evaluated by the system. For the situation of consolidating into two shops 101 (S1) and 102 (S2), it is assumed that all jobs should be performed at the shop with lowest takt-rate. Therefore according to
Matrices and total capacity allocations for the other two possible consolidation options of consolidating the three shops into consolidated shops 102 (S2) and 103 (S3) and into consolidated shops 101 (S1) and 103 (S3) are shown in
Referring to
A similar analysis can be performed for other production functions such as Color Printing. The capacity requirement can be mapped to a cost number and then various cost numbers for each function including costs of facility, labor and other related items can be aggregated into a single cost number for each option (Step 209 of
It is possible to extend the example given above to a more general case where there are a total of n number of print shops to be consolidated and k (<n) number of desired shops after consolidation. In order to appreciate how the system 110 determines all possible consolidation configurations in such a general case, it is useful to express the total number of possible configurations Pk to consolidate n shops to k shops as follows:
The total number of possible configurations P to consolidate n shops regardless of how many consolidated shops will be produced can be expressed as follows:
It will be appreciated that variations of the above-disclosed and other features, aspects and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications.
Also, it will be appreciated that various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.
Claims
1. A print shop consolidation system for consolidating processing of a first group of print jobs and a second group of prints jobs at one of a first print shop and a second print shop, each one of the first and second groups of print jobs being associated collectively with a production function, wherein, without consolidation, the first group of print jobs would be printed at the first print shop, and wherein, without consolidation, the second group of print jobs would be printed at the second print shop, comprising:
- (A) memory for storing a set of information relating to both a print job processing capability of the first print shop and a print job processing capability of the second print shop; and
- (B) a print shop consolidation management system, said print shop consolidation management system including an application for, (1) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the first print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs, said evaluating of (B)(1) including determining a first rate corresponding with performing the production function at the first print shop, (2) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the second print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs, said evaluating of (B)(2) including determining a second rate corresponding with performing the production function at the second print shop, and (3) consolidating processing of the first and second groups of print jobs at one of first and second print shops, with said evaluations of (B)(1) and (B)(2) so that either (a) processing of the first and second print jobs occurs solely at the first print shop, or (b) processing of the first and second print job occurs solely at the second print shop.
2. (canceled)
3. The print shop consolidation of claim 1, wherein the first rate is compared with the second rate to determine whether processing of the first and second print jobs is to occur solely at the first print shop, or solely at the second print shop.
4. The print shop consolidation system of claim 3, in which a first time delay would be caused by delivering at least one of the print jobs of the second group of print jobs from the second print shop to the first print shop, and in which a second time delay would be caused by delivering at least one of the print jobs of the first group of print jobs from the first print shop to the second print shop, wherein the first rate varies as a function of the first time delay, and the second rate varies as a function of the second time delay.
5-6. (canceled)
7. The print shop consolidation system of claim 22 wherein the information relating to the cost of operating the first print shop includes labor costs associated with processing the first and second groups of print jobs at the first print shop, and wherein the information relating to the cost of operating the second print shop includes labor costs associated with processing the first and second groups of print jobs at the second print shop.
8. The print shop consolidation system of claim 22 wherein the information relating to the cost of operating the first print shop includes facility costs incurred pursuant to processing the first and second groups of print jobs at the first print shop, and wherein the information relating to the cost of operating the second print shop includes facility costs incurred pursuant to processing the first and second groups of print jobs at the second print shop.
9. The print shop consolidation system of claim 1, wherein the set of information is estimated by said print shop consolidation management system.
10. The print shop consolidation system of claim 1, wherein a print shop consolidation recommendation is generated with (B)(1) and (B)(2), and wherein performance of said (B)(3) is contingent on approval of said print shop consolidation recommendation.
11. The print shop consolidation system of claim 1, in which said print shop consolidation management system communicates with each one of the first and second print shops by way of a network, wherein the set of information includes print job processing related data and said print shop consolidation management system obtains the print job processing related data with the network.
12. A print shop consolidation system for consolidating processing of a first group of print jobs, a second group of prints jobs and a third group of print jobs at one or two of a first print shop, a second print shop and a third print shop, wherein each one of the first, second, and third groups of print jobs is associated collectively with a production function, comprising:
- (A) a memory for storing a set of information relating to respective print job processing capabilities of the first print shop, the second print shop and the third print shop; and
- (B) a print shop consolidation management system, said print shop consolidation management system including an application for, (1) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the first print shop to process first, second, and third groups of print jobs, wherein said evaluating of (B)(1) includes determining a first rate corresponding with performing the production function at the first print shop, (2) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the second print shop to process the first, second, and third groups of print jobs, wherein said evaluating of (B)(2) includes determining a second rate corresponding with performing the production function at the second print shop, (3) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the third print shop to process the first, second, and third groups of print jobs, wherein said evaluating of (B)(3) includes determining a third rate corresponding with performing the production function at the third print shop, and (4) with said evaluations of (B)(1), (B)(2), and (B)(3), (a) consolidating processing of two of the first, second, and third print jobs at a first one of the first, second and third print shops, and (b) processing a third one of the first, second, and third print jobs at a second one of the first, second, and third print shops.
13. (canceled)
14. The print shop consolidation system of claim 12, wherein (B)(1)-(B)(4) are performed with a matrix including entries corresponding with the first, second, and third rates.
15. A method for consolidating processing of a first group of print jobs and a second group of prints jobs at one of a first print shop and a second print shop, each one of the first and second groups of print jobs being associated collectively with a production function, wherein, without consolidation, the first group of print jobs would be printed at the first print shop, and wherein, without consolidation, the second group of print jobs would be printed at the second print shop, comprising:
- (A) storing, in memory, a set of information relating to both a print job processing capability of the first print shop and a print job processing capability of the second print shop;
- (B) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the first print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs, said (B) including determining a first rate corresponding with performing the production function at the first print shop;
- (C) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the second print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs, said (C) including determining a second rate corresponding with performing the production function at the second print shop; and
- (D) consolidating processing of the first and second groups of print jobs at one of first and second print shops, with said evaluations of (B) and (C) so that either (1) processing of the first and second print jobs occurs solely at the first print shop, or (2) processing of the first and second print job occurs solely at the second print shop.
16-17. (canceled)
18. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating a print shop consolidation recommendation with said (B) and (C), and wherein said (D) is contingent on approval of said print shop consolidation recommendation.
19. A method for consolidating processing of a first group of print jobs, a second group of prints jobs and a third group of print jobs at one or two of a first print shop, a second print shop and a third print shop, wherein each one of the first, second, and third groups of print jobs is associated collectively with a production function, comprising:
- (A) storing a set of information relating to respective print job processing capabilities of the first print shop, the second print shop and the third print shop; and
- (B) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the first print shop to process first, second, and third groups of print jobs, wherein said (B) includes determining a first rate corresponding with performing the production function at the first print shop;
- (C) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the second print shop to process the first, second, and third groups of print jobs wherein said (C) includes determining a second rate corresponding with performing the production function at the second print shop;
- (D) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the third print shop to process the first, second, and third groups of print jobs, wherein said (D) includes determining a third rate corresponding with performing the production function at the third print shop; and
- (E) with said evaluations of (B), (C), and (D), (1) consolidating processing of two of the first, second, and third print jobs at a first one of the first, second and third print shops, and (2) processing a third of the first, second, and third print jobs at a second one of the first, second, and third print shops.
20. (canceled)
21. The method of claim 19, further comprising performing (B)-(E) with a matrix including entries corresponding with the first, second, and third rates.
22. A print shop consolidation system for consolidating processing of a first group of print jobs and a second group of prints jobs at one of a first print shop and a second print shop, wherein, without consolidation, the first group of print jobs would be printed at the first print shop, and wherein, without consolidation, the second group of print jobs would be printed at the second print shop, comprising:
- (A) memory for storing a set of information relating to both a cost of operating the first print shop and a cost of operating the second print shop; and
- (B) a print shop consolidation management system, said print shop consolidation management system including an application for, (1) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the first print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs, said (B)(1) including evaluating the total cost of processing the first and second groups of print jobs at the first print shop, (2) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the second print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs, said (B)(2) including evaluating the total cost of processing the first and second groups of print jobs at the second print shop, and (3) consolidating processing of the first and second groups of print jobs at one of first and second print shops, with said evaluations of (B)(1) and (B)(2) so that either (a) processing of the first and second print jobs occurs solely at the first print shop, or (b) processing of the first and second print job occurs solely at the second print shop.
23. The print shop consolidation system of claim 22, wherein the set of information is estimated by said print shop consolidation management system.
24. The print shop consolidation system of claim 22, wherein a print shop consolidation recommendation is generated with (B)(1) and (B)(2), and wherein performance of said (B)(3) is contingent on approval of said print shop consolidation recommendation.
25. The print shop consolidation system of claim 22, in which said print shop consolidation management system communicates with each one of the first and second print shops by way of a network, wherein the set of information includes print job processing related data and said print shop consolidation management system obtains the print job processing related data with the network.
26. A method for consolidating processing of a first group of print jobs and a second group of prints jobs at one of a first print shop and a second print shop, wherein, without consolidation, the first group of print jobs would be printed at the first print shop, and wherein, without consolidation, the second group of print jobs would be printed at the second print shop, comprising:
- (A) storing, in memory, a set of information relating to both a cost of operating the first print shop and a cost of operating the second print shop;
- (B) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the first print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs, said (B) including evaluating the total cost of processing the first and second groups of print jobs at the first print shop;
- (C) evaluating, with the set of information, an operational capacity of the second print shop to process both the first and second groups of print jobs, said (C) including evaluating the total cost of processing the first and second groups of print jobs at the second print shop; and
- (D) consolidating processing of the first and second groups of print jobs at one of first and second print shops, with said evaluations of (B) and (C) so that either (1) processing of the first and second print jobs occurs solely at the first print shop, or (2) processing of the first and second print job occurs solely at the second print shop.
27. The method of claim 26, further comprising generating a print shop consolidation recommendation with said (B) and (C), and wherein said (D) is contingent on approval of said print shop consolidation recommendation.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 29, 2008
Publication Date: Feb 5, 2009
Patent Grant number: 8310700
Applicant: XEROX CORPORATION (Norwalk, CT)
Inventors: Sudhendu Rai (Fairport, NY), Jie Lin (Rochester, NY)
Application Number: 12/201,055
International Classification: G06F 3/12 (20060101);